Bar making process



P 1936- J. 5. NICHOLAS 2,053,375

- BARMAKING PROCESS Filed quhe 3, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

E4 INVENTOR.

Sept. 8, 1936. J, 5, NICHOLAS 2,053,375

BAR MAKING PROCESS I Fil ed June 3, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

m s. Mom/4S5 AT'fORNEY;

Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNl'lE STATES rah rear ors c BAR.

Ohio.

Application e s, was, Serial No. 674,234 3 Claims. (or. 29-66) This invention relates to methods and means for fabricating metals and relatesparticularly to methods and means for producing steel or other -metal bars.

In the manufacture of various articles from metal, such for example as steel, it is common practice to utilize bars of suitable width and thickness as produced in standard sizes in a mill.

For example, there are numerous instances wherein bars of the general dimensions of onehalf inch by four inches to four and one-half inches is suitable. Now as the steel mill practice and the market for steel shapes has developed, the rolling of bars, for example bars of these said general dimensions, hasbeen accomplished by what may be called a secondary operation; That is to say, the steel is first made from the original ingot into billets, or into blooms and then into billets; then the billets-are reheated and rolled into the: bars. The bars thus become what is known as finished product of the mill and are sold at the ,price of finished product and the transportation or freightv charges thereon are determined as for finished mill products.

Again, in the development of the steel business,

it has become standardized practice to ma'nufac ture at .the mill what is known as sheet bars.

Some mills, for example, roll sheet bars approximately eight inches wide and of thickness varied as:desired Within: These sheet bars are sometimes rolled in so-called tongue andgroove rolls, that is, are rolled in the annular groove of tional area thereof, may be madeby'a continuousrolling process, directly. from the original'ingot' utilizing the ingot heat, and without i e-heating: and furthermore areclassed as semi-finished or unfinished mill products; and furthermore are sold and transported, as semi-finished or unfinished product; and for these severalreasons may be laid down at the plant of the manufacturer who,

can utilize them, at a substantially lower costper pound than the finished "bars, above described.

Where, however, the sheet bars are of too greattion to provide an improved method and means for reducing relatively wide sheet bars to relatively narrow bars".

Another object of this invention is to provide a method and means by which the cost of providing, at a point remote from the steel mill, bars, made from sheet bars, may be rendered less than the cost of providing bars originally rolled at the mill. I

Another object of this invention is to provide a method and means for rolling metal sheet bars adapted to bereduced to bars in an improved manner.

Another object is to provide an improved method and means for producing metal bars.

Another object is to provide an improved. steel or other metal rolled "section.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains.

. My invention is fully disclosed. in the following description aken in connection with the accomp'anying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 illustrates a fragment of asheet bar made according to my invention and which may be reducedto bars by the practice of my invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates, partly in diagrammatic form, a pair of mill rolls by whichthe sheet'bar of Fig. 1 maybe produced;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a. machine by which" the bar of Fig. 1 may be reduced to bars;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken from the plane 3 ofFig.3;' Y Y v Fig. Bis a diagrammatic view illustrating a modified'iorm of machine. 3 1

"Fig. 6 and Fig. '7 are, respectively, views generally similar toFig's. 3 and 4 and illustrating anothermodification ofmachine; l

"Figs. 8=and9 are views generally similar to Fig. 1 illustrating modifications. l

Referring to the drawings, I have shownat 'i' a steelsheetbarwhich may be'made according to myinvention. The width and thickness of the-bar i may be'th'at of sheetbars, as sometimes made, i.1 e. in the neighborhood of 8.-inches wide aridtinchthick. Y f

Fig. l illustrates a. fragment of such a. bar and the bar may be of 'thelength' towhich it is customary to roll ordinary sheet bars. The bar I has in its-upper and lower'facesopposite grooves 50 2 and 3 extending'the full length of the bar,

' parallel to its parallel side edges. The' grooves may be of any suitable shape but preferably are angular and embrace an angle of 90"; and the grooves are of such depth that at their apices the metal is about of an inch thick. The bar I may therefore be considered as in two portions, 4 and 5, joined by a longitudinal neck 6.

The portions 4 and 5 may be of equal width but in some instances it is desirable to make them of different width such for example as 4 inches and 4 inches, or 3 inches and 5 inches, etc.

The bar of Fig. 1 is rolled in a sheet bar mill on rolls formed to simultaneously roll the pertions 4 and 5 to the desired thickness and to roll the grooves 2 and 3. It will be apparent to those skilled in this art how to make rolls for these operations and rolls of various general types may be employed. In Fig. 2 I have illustrated one type of roll known as tongue and groove rolls or closed path rolls. These rolls are in general of the conventional design for rolling sheet bars and a general description thereof is believed to be unnecessary, except to state that a tongue or collar portion 'I-1 on the lower roll rolls in a groove portion 8--8 of the upper roll to roll the sheet bar in the space 9 therebetwen, which space in thickness may be adjustably varied by adjusting the distance between the center lines of the rolls to vary the thickness of the sheet bar.

In the practice of my invention the rolls are each provided with beads or ribs l8 and II, respectively, on the tongue I and in the groove 8, a rib l0 and a rib II being aligned in aplane at right angles to the rotary axis for rolling the grooves 2 and 3.

Sheet bars having the section of Fig. 1 may thus be produced at a mill and sold and shipped to a manufacturer as semi-finished or unfinished product of the mill. By a simple apparatus which will now be described, in connection with Figs. 3 and 4, the purchaser, that is, the manufacturer, may reduce the sheet bar of Fig. 1 to two bars corresponding to the portions 4 and 5 of Fig. 1, which bars may be used in various manufacturing processes, for example processes in which a bar of steel is fed through a machine or is cut into short pieces or blanks. I

I have shown at l2 a table upon which a sheet bar I may be laid and moved in the direction of the arrow l3."

At 5| and 52 are rollers having portions 53 and 54, respectively, which overlap each other in the nature, of ashear. The rollers 5| and 52 may also have portions 55. and 56, respectively, of smaller diameter. rolls, the bar I may be split, broken or sheared by the roll portions 53 and 54. Guides 51 and 58 may be disposed at each edge of the sheet bar so that the shearing operation will take place along the line of the grooves 2 and 3 of the sheet bar above described, whereby it is rendered very easy of performance and is not to be compared with the more diflicult and expensive operation of shearing into bars a sheet-bar of uniform thickness, that is, without the grooves 2 and 3.

The small diameter portions 55 and 56 of the rolls 5| and 52 are not essential but may be employed, the roll portions 55 serving to hold the sheet bar upon the roll 54 while being sheared, and the roll portion 56 serving to support the sheared off portion ofthe sheet bar.

The machine above described is illustrated in some respects diagrammatically in the drawings but will be clear to those skilled in this art.

adjust the distance between their axes to adjust the shearing overlap of one roll relative to the other. A very small overlap is suflicient to efiect the small offset of the two parts of the bar necessary to sever them.

In Fig. 5 I have shown, diagrammatically, a machine having a plurality of pairs of rolls spaced longitudinally of the bar, each pair effecting a part only of the shearing operation, the opera- By this arrangement of tion thus being performed in successive stages.

In Figs. .6 and 1 I have illustrated another type of machine which may be employed to break the sheet bar into bars. In this form, the adjusting means for adjusting the center distances of a pair of rolls is illustrated, as well as a means of driving the rolls', and such means may be employed in connection with the form of Figs. 3 and 4 as referred to above.

Referring to Figs. 6 and 7, I have shown at 68 and SI, lower and upper rolls, respectively concave and convex, the roll comprising frustoconical portions 62 and 63 joined at their smaller bases, and the roll 8| comprising frusto-conical portions 64 and 64 joined at their larger bases.

The conical angle of the two roll portions in each case is relatively slight for a purpose to be described, and the relative angle of the roll portions is such that a space of substantially uniform width between the upper and the lower rolls is provided at all times.

The roll 60 is mounted by trunnions thereon 68-66 in bearings 6'|6'I, and may be rotatably driven by a large gear 68 secured to one of the trunnions meshed with a pinion 69 driven by an electric motor 18.

'I'he upper roll 6| is rotatably mounted on trunnions 1|-'H in bearings 12-12 in the outer ends of a U-shaped yoke I3 vertically adjustably reciprocable by slide portions 14-14 in vertical guides I5-- 15 formed in a stationary frame 16. A rotatable screw 11 is rotatably mounted in the yoke I3 and anchored against longitudinal movement therein and is threaded as-at 18 in the frame 16. A wheel 19 is provided to turn the screw. w

' By this arrangement, the' roll 8| may be elevated or depressed to adjust the space between it and the roll 60', and by means of screws 80-80 in the bearing bores for the trunnions I |-1i the roll 6| may be adjustably shifted axially to position it relative to the roll 88.

The sheet bar, illustrated in these figures at 82, is supported upon a table 83 provided with surface rollers 84 and is fed between the rolls,

and as it passes therethrough it is bent along the longitudinal grooves of the sheet bar, cracking the metal in a relatively thin neck portion 8 thereof, breaking the sheet bar into two bars.

In Fig. 8 I have illustrated another sheet bar which may be made according to iny invention provided .with a neck portion by which it may be broken into two bars. In this form e two bar portions 9l--9| are generally of wedg form whereby the bars made'from the sheet bar are adapted to be formed into the heads of axes, hatchets and the like.

In Fig. 9 another form of sheet bar is illustrated in which twopairs of opposite grooves 92-92 and 93-93 are rolled which adapts the sheet bar to be broken into three bars 94-94-94 and machines "similar to those illustrated and described hereinbefore may be provided for this purpose. It is believed unnecessary to illustrate such machines in view of the complete fllustration and tions substantially at right angles to the planes description of the machines of Figs. 3 and 4 and 6 and 7.

The bar portions 94 may be varied from the generally rectangular form of the bars 4 and of Fig. 1 and in the instanceillustrated are provided with intermediate thin portions 95-95 as illustrative forms. g

In the forms of Figs. 8 and 9, very thinneck portions are 93.

My invention is not limited to the exact type or design of rolls illustrated and described in the foregoing. Anysuitable rolls by which a sheet bar may be rolled with a groove therein or a pair of opposite grooves therein may be employed.

- Again, my invention is not limited to the thickness of neck illustrated and described provided between the two parts of the sheet bar. The thickness of thisneck may be varied, for example withvarying thicknesses of the bar, and in some cases may be very thin or only thick enough to hold the sheet'bar in integral form while handling ind-prior to the time of .shearing it apart into two bars. a

Whereas I; have clearly illustrated two opposite grooves in the bar in each case, it will be apparent that in some aspects my invention may be practiced with a single groove.

I claim:

1. The method of making metal bars from a metal sheet bar having the form of a pair of longitudinally extending substantially flat bar portions joined by a longitudinally extending neck of sui'ilcient restricted width and thickness to render it readily fracturable, which includes feeding the sheet bar longitudinally between a pair of concave-convex rolls to efiect the application of forces to the two bar portions in direcprovided by the grooves 9|, 92 and of the bar portions to eil'ect progressive bending of the bar portions longitudinally along the neck sufllciently to progressively fracture the neck to progressively produce two separate bars but insufllciently to permanently bend the 'bars.

2. The method of making metal bars from a flat metal sheet bar having the form of a pair of longitudinally extending flat bar portions joined by a longitudinally extending neck of sufliciently restricted width and thickness to render it readily fracturable, which'includes, feeding the sheet bar longitudinally between tool elements in enageme'nt therewith to cause bending forces to be applied tothe sheet bar portions at opposite sides of the neck in directions substantially at right angles to the planes of the flat bar portions to thereby bend the sheet bar longitudinah ly progressively along the neck to progressively fracture the neck to progressively sever the bar portionsfrom each other.

3. The method of'making metal bars from a metal sheet bar having the form of a pair of longitudinally extending coplanar bar portions joined by a longitudinally extending neck of sufficiently restricted width and thickness to render it readily fracturable, which includes, feeding the sheet bar longitudinally between tool elements of the roll type in engagement therewith to effect the application of forces to the bar portions on opposite sides of the neck in directions substantially at right angles to the planes of the bar portions to eilect bending of the longitudinally moving sheet bar progressively longitudinally along the neck to progressively fracture the neck to progressively sever the bar portions from each other.

' JOHN SIMMONS NICHOLAS. 

